Sideways/Les Vacances de M. Hulot

Posted on February 15, 2011 by jaycluitt

Cross off two more! I watched Sideways on Sunday, still loved it, but then I’ll watch anything with Paul Giamatti in, even Shoot ’em Up, and I’m looking forward to watching Cold Souls at some point in the future too, as well as Barney’s Version. Choose Film 7/10

Rented les Vacances de M. Hulot too. Wasn’t overly impressed if I’m honest, I found the lack of a driven narrative to be annoying, and that most of the occurrences were contrived merely to allow a few slightly humorous pratfalls. Plus, the character of Monsieur Hulot is a clear inspiration for Mr. Bean, the character that lessened Rowan Atkinson as a comedy genius in the public mindset, for which there is no possible forgiveness. Choose Life 4/10

Black Narcissus/An Education

Posted on February 13, 2011 by jaycluitt

Nearly finished the list! Just editing out the duplications. Fortunately, I seem to own a good couple of hundred of the required films, but I feel I may be re-joining LoveFilm pretty soon, and learning how to set my VCR (yes, VCR, what’s the weather like in the present?) for the random daytime gold that is Film4. I’ve also discovered the library of DVDs at the university my girlfriend attends, offering up to 3 rentals at a time, for free! Alas, she is only there for a few more months, so I’m going to be renting as many as I can whilst she’s there.

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Second Chance: Sex and the City the Movie 2

Posted on February 8, 2011 by jaycluitt

I must have done something wrong. I’ve no idea what it was, but believe me I’m sorry, as the punishment for this unknown wrongdoing was a viewing of Sex and the City the Movie 2. I’ve never watched an episode, and certainly haven’t seen the original film, but I knew of the characters, their names and basic cliche stereotypes (Charlotte = prim and proper, Carrie = whiny clotheshorse, Miranda = businesslike, Samatha = whore) from pop-culture. I’ve never had any desire to watch anything even vaguely related to this show, and this viewing has only furthered this mission.

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Second Chance: P.S. I Love You

Posted on January 31, 2011 by jaycluitt

For every good film, there must be an equally bad film (Newton’s Third Law of Motion Pictures). Like most people, I tend to not watch a film if I hear that it’s bad, even more so if this opinion comes from a review. But a review is merely one person’s opinion, and I’m not going to agree with them all the time, surely? So in this column I’ll be providing badly reviewed films with a second chance, seeing if they are as bad as everyone seems to think.

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Point Break, clearly broken

Posted on October 13, 2010 by jaycluitt

Last night I watched Point Break again. This was only the second time I’ve watched it, the first being a few years ago, after the recommendation of Seargeant Danny Butterman. On first viewing, I found it very easy, and often more enjoyable, to stop paying attention to the film and do something else, and the same can most definitely be said of this second viewing. I’m going to place the blame for this mainly upon the shoulders of Keanu Reeves, as the improbably, but somewhat awesomely monikered Johnny Utah.

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